EVENT - Hunter:  Target takes 1 damage unless he discards 
a dodge card. 
--------------------------------------------------------- 

"Well, this has been a lovely dinner, Mr. St. Cloud . . ." 

"Please, call me Xavier, Ms. McFarland."  The Immortal 
gave his most charming smile.  "No need for formality.  I 
merely wish I could be of more assistance." 

The blonde across the table from him smiled gratefully. 
"Oh, you've been a great deal of help, Mister . . . 
Xavier.  Although I had hoped you might tell me more about 
Mr. Floret." 

Xavier chuckled.  "I'm afraid I've never heard of him.  No 
doubt any resemblance between that gentleman and myself is 
purely coincidental." 

In fact, St. Cloud used the 'Gerard Floret' alias on 
occasion, most recently in Paris during his attempts to 
kill Tessa Noel.  This reporter, Randi McFarland, was 
good, good enough to find someone who had actually seen 
Xavier-as-Floret. 

Xavier looked about the London restaurant.  It was late, 
and the place was nearly deserted. 

"Perhaps you would care to join me for a nightcap, Ms. 
McFarland?  I've kept you far too late, regaling you with 
my tales of travel, and no doubt you're bored . . ." 

"Oh, not at all!" 

"Good.  Then if you'll excuse me while I clean up, I will 
return momentarily." 

Xavier rose, bowing, then entered the mens' restroom.  All 
things considered, the evening had gone well.  McFarland 
had learned nothing useful from him.  Meanwhile, he had 
gained several useful pieces of information.  For 
instance, her involvement with MacLeod in Seacouver might 
provide him with a chance to surprise the Highlander. 

No matter where he was, St. Cloud always kept a careful 
watch about him.  Even so, the man lunging out of the 
bathroom stall caught him by surprise. 

Spinning, Xavier managed to parry the man's knife thrust 
with his hook.  The weapon went clattering, while a well- 
placed blow to the man's larynx shattered bone and 
cartilage. 

There has been no sense, no warning.  His opponent was 
mortal, and was quietly choking to death.  A common 
mugging?  Xavier didn't think so.  Not in an expensive, 
albeit otherwise-empty restaurant. 

The next two men chose that moment to charge in through 
the door.  The ambush was carefully planned:  the men were 
dressed in kitchen whites, and clearly no random thieves. 
One was armed with a cleaver, the other with a fire ax. 

There was no time to draw his sword.  Xavier ducked the 
neck-high swing of the ax man, then charged the other. 
His head connected solidly with the man's gut before the 
cleaver could descend.  Despite his wiry frame, St. Cloud 
was anything but weak.  His charge threw the man back into 
the wall behind the door.  His attacker slid to the floor, 
unconscious. 

That left the man with the ax.  Xavier spun to face his 
opponent, then moved backwards as the blade just missed 
his stomach. 

The attacker pressed his advantage, giving the Moroccan no 
chance to draw his sword.  Having lost the element of 
surprise, the man swung at St. Cloud's extremities, 
apparently hoping to incapacitate the Immortal long enough 
to take his head at leisure. 

_Enough,_ Xavier thought.  He backed away from the next 
swing, then stepped forward.  His attacker was off-balance 
for one second, and that was enough.  St. Cloud thrust 
forward with his hook, taking the man in the stomach.  The 
Immortal moved his shoulder muscles, and through the 
prosthetic he felt flesh and muscle tear. 

The ax clattered to the floor as Xavier brought his right 
hand into the man's left temple with a hammer-hand strike. 

By the time his assailant dropped to the floor, Xavier was 
already out the restroom door.  He had set too many traps 
not to recognize one closing on him.  Grayson, perhaps? 
Or Luther? 

St. Cloud quickly evaluated the situation.  Perhaps he had 
been wrong about McFarland.  She may have been bait in the 
trap, in which case she might be waiting for him with a 
gun.  Better to take the back way out.  Xavier had been to 
the restaurant before, memorizing its exits out of long 
habit. 

Turning right, St. Cloud took a corner and came to a fire 
door.  He was through it and into the alleyway beyond, 
ready for anything. 

There was no one ready to stab or slash at him.  That 
momentary lull was enough for Xavier to relax his guard. 
In truth, however, there was nothing he could do as a shot 
rang out and fire burned in his chest.  He felt darkness 
closing in as he collapsed to the ground. 

--------------------------------------------------------- 

This particular Watcher/Hunter card is still a relatively 
annoying card from the Series Edition. 

It forces your opponent to choose between two equally 
distasteful options.  Her first choice is to discard a 
dodge.  Unfortunately, this may leave her without the 
ability to avoid a two point (or greater!) attack later in 
the duel. 

Your opponent's other choice is to take the point of 
damage.  This leaves you with an extra dodge card, but an 
immediate one point Ability loss. 

Watcher/Hunter can be quite effective in decks which force 
an opponent to dodge.  These types of decks, primarily 
Slan, Connor, and Duncan decks, typically use Power Blow 
and/or Head Shot. 

You can also use Watcher/Hunter with decks that use 
modified attacks that your opponent is best off dodging 
against.  Such decks have Hidden attacks, unblockable 
attacks, or other unpleasant situations.  Cards in these 
types of decks include Combination, Extra Shot, Hook, 
Jump, Duck, Shooting Blade, Pistol, Dirty Trick, and 
Master's Attack.  Many Persona/deck combinations can 
potentially use two or more of these cards. 

An opponent can use the Police/Counter Damage card against 
the Watcher/Hunter damage.  In this manner, they can 
choose not to discard a dodge, then negate the point of 
damage. 

Greenfield is also a counter to this card.  Be prepared to 
use Situation removal cards if you use Watcher/Hunter. 

Watcher/Hunter does count against the restriction of six 
total Watcher cards.  So for each Watcher/Hunter you 
include, you have one less "slot" available for other 
useful cards like Watcher/Treatment, Watcher/Sniper, or 
Watcher/Counter. 

Watcher/Hunter can be used with Stumble, from Movie 
Edition.  The cards are identical in effect, and can give 
you three extra attempts. 

The impact of Watcher/Hunter on various Personas varies. 
Dodge-type cards available to Immortals range from 6 (for 
Slan, Kern, Kurgan, and Kalas) to 30 (for Amanda).  Eight 
to ten is a good average.  Kern could be in trouble since 
he lacks Dodge.  Amanda, on the other hand, will probably 
not have much problem.  You should keep this in mind when 
deciding whether to use Watcher/Hunter. 

Watcher/Hunter is almost useless against Nefertiri.  As 
long as she has one dodge, she can choose to discard it 
and then immediately recover it. 

In short, Watcher/Hunter is a card that can be added to a 
wide variety of decks.  If you're not using it already and 
find it hard to pin down a dodging opponent, this could be 
a card to use.  It's not as reliable as absolute anti- 
dodge cards, but in combination with them it can prove a 
useful deterrent. 

(This story is another in the continuing saga of Xavier 
St. Cloud's activities between the events of "For Tomorrow 
We Die" and "Unholy Alliance Pt. 1") 
 
 

SITUATION:  Discard immediately when Darius is played to 
counter the card played in conjunction with Darius.  Or, 
you may discard James Horton to remove any pre-game Darius 
from the game. 
--------------------------------------------------------- 

Some say the world will end not with a bang, but with a 
whimper. 

With Xavier, his world always began with a bang _and_ a 
whimper.  A bang as the sound of his own heart starting 
back up echoed through his head.  A whimper as he drew the 
first new breath of air into his lungs. 

This time, however, the pain of his last death was not 
gone.  There was an enormous burning sensation in his 
chest, an agony which Xavier recognized as the pain of a 
near-fatal yet healing wound.  He had never before felt 
such pain immediately upon rebirth. 

St. Cloud opened his eyes to see a man kneeling over him. 
The man held a knife in his hand, and was slowly twisting 
the blade.  Xavier's body had brought him back from death, 
but the damage was not quite enough to kill him once more. 
Now, he hovered on the edge of consciousness as his body 
tried to heal the near-lethal wound that was constantly 
being inflicted. 

The man smiled grimly.  He was so bland as to be 
featureless.  He was clean-shaven, with brown hair and 
bland features.  The man wore a suit and trenchcoat, and 
looked like any one of a hundred mortals that Xavier 
passed on the street every day. 

His only distinctive feature were his eyes.  They burned 
with an inner purpose that Xavier had seen in few men, 
mortal or Immortal. 

"I'm glad you're awake, Mr. St. Cloud," he whispered with 
just a trace of an English accent.  "I wouldn't want you 
to miss this." 

The man nodded toward a fire ax laying at his knees. 
Xavier had no doubt that this was the man who had planned 
the assault upon him in the restaurant.  His agents had 
driven him out into this London alleyway, where this man 
had waited to put a bullet in him. 

The man frowned.  "I've killed a dozen of your kind. 
Abominations upon the face of the earth.  My fellow 
Watchers don't realize the danger you pose.  They are 
content to observe and record." 

Xavier's attacker leaned forward, and the Immortal 
recognized the gleam of fanaticism.  He had seen such 
fanaticism hundreds of times down through the centuries, 
all the way back to when he had fought with Saladin during 
the Crusades. 

"Watchers . . .?" St. Cloud gasped out weakly. 

The man chuckled.  "Ah, I forget myself.  We are quite the 
little secret society.  My name is James Horton and I am . 
. . _was_ a Watcher.  Until they betrayed me.  My own 
brother-in-law turned against me, banished me from the 
organization.  He doesn't realize the menace you are. 
Only a few men, whom I have carefully chosen, know you for 
what you truly are." 

Horton twisted the knife again, and a fresh bolt of pain 
shot through Xavier's gut.  The ex-Watcher chuckled at the 
grimace of pain on his victim's face. 

"And you're the worst of the lot, St. Cloud.  I know all 
about you.  The personification of the evil of all 
Immortals.  So I've decided to make an example of you. 
First I'll kill you, the vilest of Immortals, and then 
MacLeod, the one my brother-in-law considers the best." 

As Horton reached for the ax, Xavier smiled despite his 
agony.  It was almost worth dying if MacLeod would be 
killed in turn. 

Horton noticed St. Cloud's grimace.  "Something amuses you 
. . .?  Oh, that's right.  You and MacLeod, you've been 
enemies for centuries.  Since that little affair in 
Algiers, wasn't it?"  He chuckled at the look of surprise 
that briefly crossed Xavier's face.  "Oh yes, as I said, 
we've been Watching you.  For centuries.  I know all about 
you . . ." 

Horton paused, ax in hand.  He seemed to be considering 
something.  Then, reaching some internal decision, he 
reached forward and withdrew the knife from St. Cloud's 
stomach. 

Xavier tried to roll away as best he could, feeling the 
flesh knit.  Given time, he would heal.  If this madman 
gave him the time. 

Horton made no move to stop him.  He pulled a gun from a 
pocket and trained it on the Immortal, but made no effort 
to shoot. 

Pulling himself up the wall of the alleyway, Xavier gasped 
out, "So, what are you waiting for?  Finish it." 

"Not yet," Horton replied.  "We have much to talk of, my 
friend.  A thought occurs.  Perhaps we might make an 
alliance.  I have no reason to love MacLeod, and every 
reason to hate him.  I can almost sympathize with your 
anger towards him, as much as I can sympathize with a 
inhuman beast." 

Xavier frowned at the insult, but had to admit to himself 
that Horton had resources and hatred to match his own. 
Perhaps they might be able to come to an arrangement at 
that . . . 

--------------------------------------------------------- 

There are few cards more feared than Darius.  This Series 
Edition card lets you use cards that you normally can not 
play with. 

Using this card, a generic Immortal can use the cards of 
any other Persona.  If they want to add a Stalk or a 
Shooting Blade, they can do so. 

Other Personas can add other Persona cards as well.  Thus, 
Slan can add a Seduce card from Amanda, and use it to make 
one of his Power Blows unblockable and undodgeable. 

For Richie, whose ability is that he can one card from 
every other Persona, Darius is very useful.  He can use 
one of Amanda's Seduces automatically, and use three 
Darius cards to gain three more. 

To date there has been no card that counters the effects 
of Darius.  With the release of Watcher's Chronicles, 
James Horton becomes the first.  As a Situation, James 
Horton's presence is obvious, meaning that an opponent 
must deal with him before trying to play Darius. 

There are ways to deal with James Horton.  Focus, an Edge 
card, lets your opponent ignore him for one turn - enough 
time to play Darius and the card along with it.  If you 
put multiple James Horton cards into play, it makes it 
harder for your opponent to use Focus on all of them. 

James Horton can also be removed by the use of Specials. 
However, if your opponent plays a Special to remove James 
Horton then he has to wait one turn to play Darius.  This 
gives you enough time to play another James Horton. 

James Horton also affects the pre-game Darius.  A 
promotional pre-game card, for each pre-game Darius you 
have you may raise the restriction number on one card by a 
maximum of one.  Thus, you can use a pre-game Darius to 
add a second Shooting Blade or Stalk, or a fifth Seduce. 

You can discard James Horton to remove a pre-game Darius 
from the game.  This also removes the card that the Darius 
card let your opponent add to his deck.  Your opponent 
must first look through his discard pile, then his 
Endurance, his displayed cards, and finally his hand to 
find the card to remove. 

In conclusion, James Horton seriously cuts down on the 
power of a powerful card.  Darius cards are very popular, 
so adding several James Horton cards to your deck is 
probably a good idea.  Even if your opponent doesn't use 
Darius cards, you can always play James Horton. 

(This story is another in the continuing saga of Xavier 
St. Cloud's activities between the events of "For Tomorrow 
We Die" and "Unholy Alliance Pt. 1")